Serial Robbery Ringleader Suspect Hiroto Fukuchi and His Violent Past

He came to light after being arrested last November in connection with a separate assault case

“High pay,” “legitimate work.”

The four arrested suspects allegedly used such posts on social media to recruit perpetrators and issue instructions for robberies.

In 2024, a series of wide-area robberies carried out through so-called yami baito (illegal part-time jobs) occurred frequently across the Tokyo metropolitan area. All four arrested suspects are in their 20s: Hiroto Fukuchi (26), Takuya Saito (26), Karura Murakami (27), and Shota Watanabe (26).

The string of wide-area robberies totaled 18 incidents, occurring between August and November 2024 across four prefectures—Tokyo, Chiba, Kanagawa, and Saitama. So far, 55 people have been arrested in connection with the cases, including 38 actual perpetrators and others such as money collectors. The total amount stolen exceeds 20 million yen.

The four suspects allegedly threatened the perpetrators when they hesitated to commit the robberies, saying things like:

“We know your address. We’ll kidnap your family.”

They are also said to have issued shockingly brutal instructions such as:

“Bend their fingers all the way backward.”

In this case, Fukuchi is believed to be the ringleader among those giving instructions.

“Fukuchi was arrested last November in connection with a separate assault case, and evidence suggesting he had been directing robberies using yami baito was found on a smartphone seized at that time. His involvement came to light through an arrest for an entirely unrelated incident,” said a reporter from a national newspaper’s social affairs desk.

Fukuchi and the others used aliases such as “Natsume Soseki,” “Kingfisher,” and “Sasaki,” and issued instructions via highly anonymous communication apps.

“A joint investigation task force led by the Metropolitan Police Department had been investigating since around this summer and was determined to make arrests before the end of the year. More than 750 smartphones seized from perpetrators in each case were thoroughly analyzed, leading to the arrest of those giving the orders,” the reporter added.

While the arrests of these extraordinarily ruthless masterminds mark a major development, it has also emerged that Fukuchi, believed to be the leader, has a prior conviction for crimes including assault resulting in death.

Night after night, his mother drove around town searching for him

Fukuchi was born in March 1999 in Ibaraki Prefecture. He spent his elementary school years in Hitachiōta City in the northeastern part of the prefecture, attended a local junior high school, and then went on to an agricultural high school within the prefecture. He dropped out of the agricultural high school after one year and later transferred to a part-time high school.

When reporters spoke with neighbors near Fukuchi’s family home, they recalled his past as follows:

“He was the second son of four siblings and a mischievous kid. He liked to stand out and didn’t listen to others. People around him called him Hiroto. As soon as he entered elementary school, he started attending a kendo class. He was athletic, so he was strong at kendo, but he was very self-taught and often got yelled at by his mother—that’s what sticks in my memory.”

At the time, Fukuchi’s elementary school had very small classes of fewer than ten students, and the school was later merged with others. While he did not engage in violence, he liked teasing people and was said to have excessively picked on quieter classmates.

The mother of a son who was Fukuchi’s classmate in junior high told reporters:

“When he entered junior high, he joined the kendo club and sometimes placed in city tournaments. He even served as club captain, and people saw him as a bright, loud kid who was popular. However, from around that time he began showing a defiant attitude toward teachers, and his delinquent behavior increased. Many parents instructed their children not to get too involved with Fukuchi.”

Then came a turning point. One former classmate testified:

“Hiroto changed after entering high school.”

On June 28, 2015—when Fukuchi had dropped out of the agricultural high school and transferred to a part-time high school, during his second year of high school—an incident occurred.

“In the parking lot of a supermarket in Hitachiōta City, a male student who was a third-year high schooler at the time was summoned by Fukuchi and his group, assaulted, and later died. Four juveniles were arrested on suspicion of assault resulting in death, and Fukuchi, regarded as the ringleader, was tried under the same criminal standards as an adult. He was sent to a juvenile prison, and the sentence was between three and five years in prison (with prosecutors seeking four to six years),” said a television industry source.

According to a weekly magazine reporter familiar with the case at the time, Fukuchi punched and kicked the victim in the face and also struck him with stones. The victim’s face was so swollen that he was barely recognizable.

According to the former classmate mentioned earlier:

“Once he entered high school, Hiroto’s circle of friends suddenly got much worse. He started hanging around delinquent groups involved in reckless behavior and drinking. He hardly ever came home, so night after night his mother would drive around town looking for him.”

Upon turning 20, Fukuchi was granted parole from juvenile prison as a model inmate.

“After his release, he worked for a real estate company in the prefecture, and after about a year his probation ended. I heard he then moved to Tokyo. He told people around him, ‘I’m just an employee, but I’m running a bar as the manager.’ However, the bar job didn’t last long, and in 2021 he committed a fraud case in which he swindled 2.4 million yen in cash from a woman in her 60s living in Yamanashi Prefecture. Among us, people were saying, ‘As expected, he never managed to reform,’” the same classmate said.

And with the latest incident, suspicions about Fukuchi have turned into certainty.

“In front of his parents, he acted normal, but in the end he’s just hopeless. Hearing about this latest case didn’t surprise me at all. It’s exactly the kind of thing he would do. Ever since we were young, whenever there was trouble, it was always him,” the classmate said.

Police believe Fukuchi and the others are responsible for many additional crimes and say they will take the time to pursue each one individually.